The Lotus Blooms in Mud
by sakimidare
Summary: As they find out the hard way, it all boils down to a choice between revenge and moving on to what's really important to you. And that things have a way of sneaking their way into your heart when you're concentrating somewhere else. Medieval AU, 1869/6918
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Procrastinating on studying = Fic spam!**

**Vongole = Plural form of Vongola (I think?)**

**First of all, some information about this AU.**

**1) Rings and boxes don't exist.**

**2) Vongola Empire is the ruling Empire - the only Kingdoms still not vanquished by it being the Mist Kingdom, led by King Daemon Spade, the Dragon Empire, led by King Byakuran and its allied Kingdoms, which include the Cavallone (or Chiavorone - what you will) and the Shimon Kingdoms. The Cloud Kingdom and the Varia Kingdom are autonomous kingdoms under the Vongola.**

**3) Flames, though, do exist, but only among the royal bloodline.**

******4) The timeline here is messed up. It's the tyl!timeline except for Mukuro and Chrome, who are 15 and 14 year old respectively, and Lambo, who's 25-year-old.**

**5) This is an AU where Mukuro doesn't have the Hell Eye (that's his red eye, eh). But he's still spirited and strong - but not an illusionist yet (I'll decide whether or not he will become one afterwards, when I'm not surviving on sugar overdoes), not the Monster Tamer! Verse Mukuro. 'Cos as cute as I find him, I don't think I should make him like that in every fic, under fear of being impaled by a trident.**

**6) Also, the reason everyone either looks down upon, hates or has some aversion to Mukuro is because the Mist Kingdom and Vongola Empire have had a long rivalry, and as a village that belonged originally to the Mist Kingdom, everyone is prejudiced against them. **

**7) And since my friend asked me about the females going to war thing, seriously! Women have fought side by side with males in many places, and especially since Mukuro's village, being a village, has a very small population, it needs all the fighters it can get.**

**Ahem, yes. To the story. Any confusion is to be directed at the reviews and not to a PM or an email, I always lose stuff in my inbox since it's kinda crowded in there!**

**Warnings: Possible OOC-ness, possible incoherency (you're free to criticise me, I'll accept the truth. But if you flame... well, I'm sure if you're the type that flames, you'll flame me regardless of what I request xP), the prologue's a little (or a lot) on the short side.**

**Acknowledgements: The title is taken from a Bengali (that's a language spoken in India and Bangladesh) proverb, stemming from the fact that the lotus plant finds its roots in the muddy stuff at the bottom of a pond, and means something like "To have a beautiful thing, one must accept its darker, filthy side too." Or at least that's what I take it to mean. **

**Reviews are much appreciated, but whatever. Review if you want to, and I can't exactly _make_ you if you don't. ne?**

**The Lotus Blooms in Mud**

**(Prologue)**

**[What Would You Give To Protect That Which Is Dearest To You?]**

Fifteen-year-old Mukuro grabbed his sister's hand and ran out the moment he heard the sound of galloping hooves. He didn't need someone to tell him what this meant. Their fathers and brothers, who had rebelled against the Vongola Emperor, didn't have luxuries like horses. They fought on foot, with spears and arrows made from wood. Horses would mean their line had been breached and Vongola soldiers were heading for their village.

While many things could be said about the Vongola Emperor, no one could actually say he was tyrannical or unsympathetic to his people – or anything that could garner a rebellion, really. But the people of Mukuro's village hadn't forgotten – they seldom forgot – the prejudices they had always been subjected to, ever since their village, part of the Mist Kingdom originally, fell to the Vongole, and never quite did accept the Vongola. Fuel was added to the fire when the Vongola had invited their Council to the court to hold peace talks, and then killed them ruthlessly.

Mukuro personally thought they were doing well the way they were, living a happy, if simple, life. But after the fall of their Council – of whom his father was one – at the hands of the fearsome King Xanxus – the ruler of the Northern Realms, he ruled under the Vongola – while visiting the Vongola Court, he saw the futility of his thoughts and actively supported the rebellion, although they hadn't taken him along to fight since he was too young, leaving him behind along with some other children.

The village was a small one, and as such there were only a few people in it, and even fewer children.

Running through the small village to the woods at the very edge, he spotted a few other boys and girls and ushered them to him, there was safety in numbers. And anyway if what he had heard about the Vongola Generals was true, no one should really stay in the village, and since their mothers had gone to fight alongside the males, and he couldn't see anyone else, he supposed he might as well direct them to relative safety.

Once they entered the woods, the risks would be much lower, and they could easily slip into some other village under cover of the the forest.

Not even three metres from the edge of the forest, Mukuro felt a cold hand squeeze his heart as the sound of hooves got louder. Letting go of his sister's hand, he came to a halt and looked each of the children in their eyes.

"Ken, Chikusa, Fran, M.M., Nagi." His eyes softened a little at the first two and his sister, but he immediately hardened them. "You're only going to hold me back. Let's split up and escape from here on. If you use the cover of the forest, you can come to other villages, and finally the Mist Kingdom. I don't really care what you do."

With that he ran into the woods, stopping once he was safely hidden within the trees but still with the other children in his sight. He saw them take off in another direction, and smiled a soft smile to himself. It wasn't like he was sacrificing something, he just wanted them to be safe, and he had absolute faith in himself. He would be able to hold them up and still escape, and even if he didn't, certainly the safety of his sister and friends were worth it.

* * *

"This is all we found." Tetsuo reported back to his Master, holding the frail body carefully. Even if his Master was generally acknowledged as a ruthless man taking the utmost pleasure in slaughter, Tetsuo still had some reservations about killing children, and he knew that his Master did, too.

However, this was an exception. The boy, despite looking delicate and fragile, had opposed and challenged their soldiers. Tetsuo had a sneaking suspicion he was doing it to buy someone else time, but the soldiers had fallen for it. As such, he was pretty badly beaten up. What was even more surprising, though, was that the boy had made no attempts to run away, fighting ( or holding them back, as Tetsuo suspected was the case ) even with heavy injuries, right until he passed out.

"…..one boy?" The infamous Cloud General of Vongola, known to be brutally efficient and the strongest man in the entire Vongola Empire, raised an eyebrow eloquently, surveying the damage. "Why did you beat a child up?"

Gulping, Tetsuo repeated the way thye had come across the boy, adding that the village was smaller than normal and maybe there weren't too many people in the first place.

"What with the women gone to fight as well …. " he trailed off, trying to decipher the look on his master's face.

"Kyo-sama….?"

"Have someone tend to his injuries." The raven nodded, the smirk on his face rivaling that of the time he had fought the Vongola King in all his glory, closing his eyes, "And see that nobody disturbs me."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: **I know this is **_**long**_** but its **_**all**_** (except the next paragraph) relevant to the fic. **I can excuse myself for the delay,I really can! It was a combination of exams, (un)health problems and hard disk problems. But that's enough with the excuses!

I also want to say that while I can't reply to everyone personally (time online is something I'm desperately lacking) I'll reply to every review in the bottom.

I want to thank everyone who reviewed, alerted and/or favourited this story! Especially those who took the time to review, I really appreciate all your alerts and reviews! A special thanks to **Jasmine Liertha** for her ConCrit ^^ I tried to reduce my use of dashes (now that I think back on it, there were really a lot of them ^^") and for pointing out that Kusakabe's name is Tetsuya, not Tetsuo. (I've never checked out his Wiki profile and the anime mostly mentioned him as Kusakabe, I read his name as Tetsuo in some fanfictions and went with it, but henceforth he will be referred to as Tetsuya. Sorry ^^"")

**BluePheonix669** asked if Mukuro still had heterochromatic eyes. I actually like his blue eye (I love that shade of blue... though I love red as well but his blue eye looks so innocent!) and was planning on keeping both eyes blue but I won't, because I found a way to fit in his red eye, so yes, he is going to have one red and one blue eye, but that will be a bit later on in the fic. For now his eyes are cobalt blue (I can't tell you why though...). I hope you can wait till a bit later.

Also, take note that you do _not_ have to have a flame to create illusions, Like, how Gokudera or Yamamoto or any of the others couldn't tap in their Falme Properties before they went to the future and found the flames could be physically manifested, but Mammon, Mukuro, Chrome all could create illusions before learning to manifest their flames. Mist flames (I think) only strengthen illusions, and I'm going to stick to that 'cos its too much trouble to change the fic -.-;;Thus the village Mukuro is from and most of the Mist Kingdom can create illusions, but having no Mist Flames (which manifest only in the Royal Bloodlines) those illusions are weaker.

_Do_ please beat me up over my mistakes, its a way for me to improve! ConCrit and any comments will be much appreciated. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll stop rambling now (but there are more rambles and review replies at the bottom if you want to plough through them),

**The Lotus Blooms In Mud**

**[1.0 : Underwater]**

Cobalt blue eyes snapped open, disoriented as the boy tried to sit up only to fall back, dazed and groggy.

Where was he?

He gazed down to see himself covered from the waist-down by rich purple quilts made of silk, intricate patterns embroidered on them with threads of a lighter violet. His whole upper body was covered in bandages, and it hurt to as much as move.

Unable to remember his current location or how he reached it in the first place, the boy felt panic rise in his chest before he firmly pushed it back. Their village lay at the centre of many a rebellion and was subjected to near-constant raids from the Northern and Cloud Kingdoms, the only protection against which was their innate ability for illusions. Illusions were tricky, especially for them as they had been separated from the Mist Kingdom too long, their abilities slowly dulling without proper schooling, and required much quick wit and perception. As such the lesson of always keeping their wits about them and never panicking was drilled into them from a young age by the Village Elders. Mukuro had always been an eager student, curious and lapping every bit of information up, and brilliant enough to match his appetite for knowledge. The lessons had sunk in well. He would keep his wits about him no matter what the situation was. Even if it warranted panic, he would not allow such things to hamper his assessment of the situation at hand.

Carefully opening one eye, Mukuro looked around, taking in every detail. Even though his vision was foggy, he could make out the room he was in and his own state clearly, thanks to the large candle stands and the fireplace where a fire was currently blazing.

The room he was in was larger than any he had ever seen - it could probably house around ten of his former room - and decorated entirely in shades of purple. Two doors stood to the left of him, one big and (he assumed) probably the entrance, while the other which was to off to its side was smaller, and Mukuro had no idea what it might be. The only furniture in the room besides the bed he was currently lying in was a small bedstand by the bed and a table in the corner, both made of dark black wood - probably ebony, but Mukuro couldn't really be sure, there were no little to no wood furniture in his village, and the few that there were were made of the white wood common to the region. He had never gone out of his village except for when he wandered into the woods from time to time. Although Mukuro had always been curious to see what the outside world looked like his father never allowed him to go outside, and with good reason. People of the Vongola Kingdom were extremely hostile to all illusionists. There had even been incidents of burning illusionists at stake for witchcraft throughout the History of Vongola, though it was now forbidden. Unfortunately, passing laws did not necessarily mean that they would be implemented in reality.

He shook his head to clear it of his distracting thoughts, which were getting off-track. How he hated his habit of going off at tangents, it was inconvenient to say the least.. and here he was, in danger of going off in another tangent about going off in tangents. Did that even make sense? He frowned determinedly.

But try as he might, he could not for the life of him remember what he was doing in this clearly extravagant room. It seemed as if some of his memory had just been wiped away, leaving his memory of the events a dating back to a few days (or was it weeks? How long had he been unconscious anyway? Mukuro added another question to the growing list of questions pertaining to his current position.) a blank slate.

Exhaling, he tried to gather himself together. Alright, he knew he was an illusionist, his name, most of his life ... he could remember them all. What seemed to be missing was only a span of time... Which could be as short as a day, or days, weeks, months or as long as years for all he knew. What date was it? His last memories were of his sweet, dear little sister, Nagi, crying, near hysterics.

His jaw set. He would never forget that day, and he was grateful that he hadn't forgotten it. If he had, he wouldn't have been able to ever forgive himself.

_It was no surprise that Mukuro had worshipped his Father. They were born with the same Curse, after all, and understood each other on a level no one else could hope to achieve. Miroku Rokudou had carried the same Curse as him, the Curse of the Hell's Eye. However, unlike Mukuro, who often suffered crippling headaches and horrible nightmares because of the Cursed Eye, he had been able to tame it and finally master it, bending it to his will. Although he had had a head start of more than twenty-five years on Mukuro and the latter was still but a child, yet to reach the full limit of his potential, Mukuro still had reason to admire him, for Miroku had been the only one to be able to tame the Hell's Eye. His illusions were all the stronger for the Eye, and though he had not managed to break into the legendary power of the Eye, it was simply not humanly possible to do so. The Curse of the Eye was terrible indeed. It offered the Victim memories of lifetimes past – memories that eventually drove them to either madness or death. There was a reason people forgot their past lives. Memories could be beautiful indeed, but too much of them was burdensome. Some things were just meant to remain unknown, and breaking that rule was inviting ruin. Mukuro had known it first hand – every phantom heartbreak and pain and losses that he had never suffered yet caused him to writhe in his sleep and his heart to shatter. The sheer feelings and emotions caused by the Eye were burdensome enough to make him want to end his life already. It was probably made worse by the fact that the Eye had only manifested in him in his Generation, and as such the intensity of the Curse was undivided and focused solely on him. _

_His father had always tried to cheer him up by saying it was because of his strength and potential that the Eye had had to focus on him alone, but Mukuro was dubious although he never showed it to his Father. If he really was so strong, why had the Eye chosen him and not just found someone it could dominate? It made no sense to him._

_He had never been too close to his Mother. She had hated the Curse of the Eye with a vigor, even more so since three of her own brothers and sisters had died due to it. Few were able to survive it strong enough to reach their early twenties and none but one had succeeded in making it there without going insane. In her opinion, which she was always generous with expressing; Mukuro would never tame it like his Father – simply because his Father had been an exception to prevent the Curse from driving him to insanity, or, worse, death. In fact, her repulsion from the curse was so strong that she had declared that she already considered him dead._

"_You were dead to me the moment you first opened your eyes and I saw your Curse." She had told him in his fifth birthday, when he had finally mustered up the courage to ask her to stay for the celebration, instead of simply leaving to stay cooped up in her room all day. As if that wasn't hurtful enough, she had said it in front all the guests and relatives his Father had invited over, loud enough for everyone to hear. Standing alone among the glances and whispers Mukuro had never felt so alone or humiliated._

_Later that night, his Father had found him crying on the rooftop, alone in the light summer rain. They had just sat together, neither saying a single word. But somehow after that Mukuro had naturally felt as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders. True he still hurt, but over the next few years he had gradually accepted the fact that his Mother would never look at him the same way she did at Nagi._

_When Nagi was born, their Mother swore to anyone who would listen that if need be, she would kill the brat herself. It was better than the Curse, at the very least. If the baby showed even one sign of holding the Curse she would be merciless. It would only save her suffering later on, she argued._

_It wasn't surprising, then, that once Nagi was born, she never let her come near Mukuro. Which actually hurt Mukuro way more than when Mother had rejected him, because he really did love his cute little bundle of a sister, and it was apparent to even the most casual onlooker that she adored him in return. _

_Sometimes he would look at Nagi and not know whether to feel glad that she could have a normal, happy life untainted by the corrupted memories from the Hell's Eye or be envious that she would lead a life where he would have no place. Even though he was sure he really did love his sister, sometimes he would scare himself with the intensity of his envy. It wasn't outright jealousy, but it was bad enough that he would be racked with guilt for even thinking of having such a horrible thing happen to his innocent Nagi. It was at those times that he knew he deserved to be cursed. And it was also these times that had cemented his bond with his Father. Miroku was always there for him, filling in as a mother, a father, a friend – Mukuro being a loner had very few of those, and none whom he could actually confide in-, a mentor and, at times, a sibling, because as kind as Nagi was, these were things he fervently hoped she would never be exposed to._

_He had always wanted to be like his Father, to reach his level of skill and power, to become a strong leader protecting their village from the Vongola invaders (for invaders they were. They had no right to this village. The small village of Lovynamist had always remained defiantly Mist in spirit even though they had been conquered by the Vongola. He had given it his all, tried his hardest. And his secret ambition was to finally tame his Eye and negate the effects. But not just negate the effects, he wanted to tap in the power it promised him. The potential that seduced him in his dreams, promising a better future for those under his protectorate. There was no doubt that Mukuro was a bitter child. Perhaps it was his intelligence that rendered him cynical to the world, but the bitterness was undeniably there. His life had not been a happy one, but neither had it been a sad one. Mukuro didn't hold much bitterness towards his Mother. However, when he saw the way these Vongola treated them and their clan .. And the memories that plagued him .. Human beings repeated the same mistakes over and over, circling in an eternal pirouette of misery. It made him wonder if they even deserved a second chance .._

Mukuro shook off his dark thoughts, he had to concentrate right now.

Looking at Nagi's face that day, smudged with tear trails, he had decided his new goal. He was not only going to become stronger, strong enough to protect everyone, but he was also never going to let Nagi cry again. He would become the shield to protect his village and Nagi from those who had murdered his Father. There was never going to be a repeat of this incident, he had sworn to himself.

And yet, here he was, with Nagi nowhere in sight and unable to remember the events that had led to his current condition. And he couldn't even get up off the damn bed.

xXx

The Cloud General was every bit as aloof and distant as his post indicated, and not the least bit as fluffy. If anything, he was more of a thundercloud than the white fluff that usually came to mind when one heard the word 'cloud'. His range of expressions – at least those anyone had ever witnessed – was limited to his default stoic expression and the predatory smirk which had made the mighty Vongola Prince nearly wet his pants. Granted, he had only been ten at that time, but still. That was something Kusakabe would always remember with a poorly suppressed chuckle. He had pitied the kid, he really had – Kyo-sama had always been a terrifying person, even at ten years of age – but the kid ... err, the Prince, had been just too funny, what with his girly shriek of 'HIEEEE'. Things had changed now though. Tsunayoshi had grown up to be a worthy Prince.

Yet, despite his stoicism, having served under the General for well over two whole decades now, Kusakabe had become accustomed to noticing his Master's emotions through the slightest possible body movements. He liked to think of it as a product of his strong self-preservative senses.

And right now, the slight downturn of Hibari's lips told him clearly that he should tread very, very carefully. Unless of course, he wanted to die a painful, horrible death by metal, which he didn't really fancy all that much, but it was always a possible scenario when dealing with the feared Vongola Cloud.

He actually flinched when the ravenette spoke, voice laced with ominosity. The malice with which he bit out those words seemed almost physical.

"What do you mean he doesn't _remember_?"

A/N: Almost 2.5k excluding the A/Ns...it was actually longer, but I can't type anymore. I've spent up my six hours of the whole week on the computer trying to type this up but I think I've only actually typed it for around less than an hour...I get way too easily distracted!

Anyway, as you can see the personalities are not completely canon. Its 'cos this is an AU, so the 'nurture' part in 'Nature and nurture makes a man' is different and their personalities differ from canon too. I hope its not _completely _OOC...is it? Is it? _Is it?_

I'll explain why Mukuro has two blue eyes even with the Curse. Its because the Curse here doesn't make the eye colour change, it just manifests a kanji for '1' instead. And don't worry, Mukuro will have the red eye, but that as I said will be a little later on. Around chapter 6 or so, I think. I have an interesting idea for it.

Review Replies: 

**BluePhoenix669**: I prefer 1869 too... I think mostly 'cos most 6918 pairings end up as Mukuro being either a pervert or ...well, a creep. Besides, for some reason Mukuro's too pretty to be seme (yes I know that made no sense.) Mukuro will have his red eye soon, I have other plans for it so I can't bring it in yet, sorry^^;;

**Whereami2012** : I hope you enjoyed this chapter^^

**6918**: Haha, sorry, I can only write Mukuro as an uke because that's just how I interpret his character. I do hope you enjoyed though!

**NappoDealer**: Thank you^^ By the way, if you meant a Medieval AU, then I've read some others in the KHR fandom, though they are seldom completed... –sighs-

**Jasmine Liertha**: Thank you once again for the corrections!


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